Reds end Blues’ winning run
LONDON: The ball dipped viciously into the top-right corner, just out of Thibaut Courtois’s reach, from all of 30 yards. “Boom!” shouted Jurgen Klopp, vaulting up and out of Liverpool’s dugout. “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
With each exclamation, he pumped the air with his fists. Since he took over, Liverpool have scored 15 goals from outside the area, five more than any other Premier League club, although last night’s by Jordan Henderson was arguably the most explosive. Boom, indeed.
This being Liverpool, of course, boom is often followed by bust, and for a period it looked as if it would be again at Stamford Bridge.
Trailing by two at half-time, Chelsea came out a different team and pulled a goal back on the hour. As anonymous as Diego Costa had been in the first half, so he was dangerous in the second. As superb as Joel Matip had been containing him early on, so Liverpool’s centre-half drew the ire of Klopp for going to ground too easily when Costa scored.
Chelsea’s goal was a significant upgrade on anything that had gone before. A long passing move brought to the boil by Eden Hazard put Nemanja Matic in, his run took him past Matip and finally Adam Lallana before he cut the ball back for Costa to prod into the net, despite a desperate James Milner on the line.
Soon after, Costa pounced on a header down from Oscar but struck his shot at Simon Mignolet. Liverpool held on to draw level with Chelsea on points. They look a coming force, the Burnley defeat increasingly seeming like an aberration.
Chelsea have lost momentum, and now a first game under Antonio Conte. What will worry their new coach more, however, is that they can have no complaints about the outcome. Henderson won’t score boomers every week – but, have no doubt, the better team won.
The first goal was scored after Branislav Ivanovic, Chelsea’s captain in the absence of the injured John Terry, upended Georginio Wijnaldum on the flank to concede a free kick. Philippe Coutinho and Milner decided to work the angles, taking it short and exchanging passes before the Brazilian whipped in a cross to the far post. And what have we here? Liverpool players queueing up. Metaphorically, yes. But literally, too. One behind the other, like big red buses in rush hour. The ball could have fallen to any of them but it reached Dejan Lovren, who met it on the volley, leaving Courtois no chance.